Research & reports

Hiran Moran Ramon Soriano-Robles · Ateliê Geográfico · Mexico (Mexico City)

In peri-urban agriculture in Mexico City, a traditional multi-cropping agro-ecosystem combining diverse species like maize, beans, and amaranth is preserved. Maize and amaranth are central to productive activities and are part of Mexico City's biological and cultural heritage. The conservation and utilization of this diversity can enhance the genetic potential of native crops, contribute to local agricultural development and sustainability, and potentially offer alternatives for a future global food crisis.

Samireille Silvano Messias, Ednaldo Michellon, Marcos Rogério da Silva Alves dos Santos, Camila Pereira Croge, Juliano Tait Vareschini, Fernande Antunes Fernandes · REVISTA BRASILEIRA DE AGROECOLOGIA · Brazil (Maringá)

In Maringá, Paraná, the growing need for urban and peri-urban agriculture led to the establishment of the Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture Reference Center (CERAUP) by Maringá State University, in partnership with municipal governments and funded by the Ministry of Social Development and Fight Against Hunger. This project aims to enable the region's most vulnerable families to produce healthy food without pesticides and earn extra income by selling surplus produce. This initiative facilitates food re-education and capacity building for direct beneficiaries and the entire population around these urban agriculture spaces.

Luciana Morais de Freitas · REVISTA BRASILEIRA DE AGROECOLOGIA · Brazil

This project in the Federal District and surrounding areas of Brazil aimed to improve and expand food production and promote agroecological practices in settlements and pre-settlements. Implemented in partnership with MDS and Via Campesina, the urban and peri-urban agriculture initiative has enhanced production conditions in these settlements. It also strengthens the productive chain by training producers in agroecological practices.

William F. Stewart, James R. Barkley, Andrew Kernis, Katerie Gladdys, Troy D. Glover · Journal of Park and Recreation Administration · United States

This study assessed participants' lived experiences and place meanings in urban-agricultural fringe landscapes in the Chicago metropolitan area and Urbana, Illinois, using an autodriven photo elicitation method (APEC). Participants expressed place meanings that valued human history, tolerated human development, and indicated a need to heal the land. These findings informed two principles for park development: embodying public memories and allowing community-based restoration of ecological and cultural heritage.

Urban Harvest / Centro Internacional de la Papa (CIP) · Urban Harvest, Centro Internacional de la Papa (CIP) · Peru

Urban Harvest, the global urban and peri-urban agriculture initiative coordinated by the International Potato Center (CIP), published in 2007 the proceedings and declaration of its Third Inter-institutional Meeting held in Lima on 25-26 August 2006. The report notes that Lima Metropolitana spans the lower basins of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, with the Rímac's average flow of 29 m3/s far exceeding the Chillón (5 m3/s) and Lurín (0.41 m3/s), while bacterial contamination in all three rivers exceeds the vegetable-irrigation limit of 1,000 fecal coliforms per 100ml. In Villa María del Triunfo, a municipal urban agriculture program began in 2001, and by 2006 the municipality had identified 1,926 people engaged in productive urban agriculture.

Rainbow A. Vogt, Lucía Kaiser, Robert B. Rucker · The FASEB Journal · United States (California)

A study involving 28 school food service directors and 20 stakeholders in California explored interest in purchasing local produce. Directors were motivated by fresher food, supporting the local economy, and aiding California farms, but faced barriers such as lack of producers, seasonal availability, budget, convenience, facilities, and transportation. The study concluded that program expansion and long-term viability depend on a coordinated produce distribution network between farms and schools, and the integration of nutrition education and school gardens into the core curriculum.

Myreide Marinez Da Silva, J. L. P. Araujo, Aryon de Almeida Barbosa, Ariana Ferreira da Silva, Leyla Menezes de Santana, C. R. R. S. França · · Brazil

This study assessed the economic viability of an agroecological system for growing vegetables in the Nova Descoberta community, in the interior of Petrolina, Pernambuco state, Brazil. Coriander (Coriandrum sativum) was the economically dominant crop, accounting for nearly 85% of the garden's total monetary income, followed by lettuce (Lactuca sativa) at over 13%, while all remaining crops together reached only 2.3% of total sales value, though the study notes their cultivation was expected to expand with the continuing agroecological conversion process to diversify species grown.

Erin M. Tegtmeier, Michael Duffy · Iowa State University Digital Repository (Iowa State University) · United States

A survey of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) operations across the Midwest United States characterized their operations and profitability. The study presented the characteristics and profitability of these CSA operations.

R. Robles · Revista Agraria · Mexico (Mexico City)

This paper provides an overview of urban agriculture in Mexico City and its conurban area, contrasting production models in developing and developed countries. It reviews the main urban, suburban, and peri-urban production systems and discusses public policies for promoting urban agriculture. The study concludes that no specific policy has been designed to promote urban agriculture in Mexico.

Kerry Martens · ˜The œAgricultural education magazine · United States (Connecticut)

This paper recounts the author's personal experience in a regional suburban agricultural education program in Connecticut, detailing how it changed their career goals and led them to become an agriculture teacher. The author reports acquiring transferable skills, such as record-keeping and working within a budget through a portfolio-based SAE project. The experience concludes that large, suburban agricultural education programs offer great opportunities.

Kenny Lynch · · United States

A 1992 survey by Bryant and Johnston in the US examined farming in the 'city's countryside'. The survey found that key concerns among farmers included changes in the local community, excessive traffic, issues of trespassing and vandalism, and complaints from non-farm neighbors. These findings indicate challenges in governance and community relations for peri-urban farmers.

Joshua J. Cousins · · United States (Oregon)

This qualitative study examined local food networks in Washington County, Oregon, focusing on small-scale agricultural landscapes and farmers selling through farmers markets or CSAs. It explored farmers' concerns about urbanization, farmland preservation, and their difficulties participating in local food networks. The research concluded that local food sold through alternative venues can help preserve and develop specific farm sites.

Mary Clare Ahearn, David E. Banker, Ahearn, Mary, Banker, David · AgEcon Search (University of Minnesota, USA) · United States

Nearly one-third of all U.S. farms are located in metropolitan areas. These urban farms produce the majority of the nation's high-value crops, such as fruits and vegetables. They also contribute almost a third of the total value of U.S. farm sales and typically exhibit a stronger financial position compared to non-metropolitan farms.

Earle Barnhart · Birkhäuser Basel eBooks · United States

This paper argues that producing food within a forest ecosystem through careful cultivation of tree crops on hilly, marginal land is a successful and sustainable strategy for conserving soil and nutrients, and holds potential for the northeastern United States, where natural vegetation is predominantly steep, hilly forest unsuited to normal food production. Drawing on forest farming development at the New Alchemy Institute on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, it discusses concepts of ecology, energy use and erosion control in agricultural ecosystems.

Ledogar Rj · PubMed · Zambia (Lusaka)

In 1978, a pilot project was initiated in Lusaka, Zambia, by UNICEF and The American Friends Service Committee to expand urban agriculture. This project aims to establish kitchen gardens on residential plots, cultivate road reserves and green belts, utilize idle land during the rainy season, raise small livestock, promote cooperative cultivation of small holdings in the urban periphery by low-income residents, and eventually resettle some urban residents on farms. The goal is for the service to be self-supporting by 1980.